


The Best of Us

by FanGirlyGlee



Series: Legends Vignettes [20]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 12:43:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20008501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanGirlyGlee/pseuds/FanGirlyGlee
Summary: Spoilers for end of S4Ray's soul is back in his body where it belongs.  But how will he deal with the aftermath? Not alone that's for sure.





	The Best of Us

Ray gripped the tablet computer tightly as his skin tone darkened from lightly pink to almost crimson. When he abruptly let go the clatter of plastic on the table was followed quickly by several dull thuds as he banged his head on the same surface. “Whoa dude.” Behrad jumped to his feet and pulled Ray’s chair back while Mick calmly flipped the button on the electric kettle. Clearly Haircut needed a soothing cup of tea. 

“I can’t believe I did that,” Ray moaned into his hands. 

“Technically you didn’t,” Behrad reminded him. “It was Ne-Ray.” Ray looked up at his teammate, his eyes wide.

“You gave possessed me a nickname?”

“Had to call him somethin’,” Mick pointed out as he began squirting honey into a mug. “B’s right. It wasn’t you. You were in Hell.”

Ray shivered involuntarily. “I thought being possessed would be different, like I’d be stuck in my head, and have some awareness of what was going on.”

“You always gotta learn the hard way. I don’t remember a damn thing from Nate’s dad’s ghost talking through me for five minutes. ‘Course that beats goin’ to Hell.”

Behrad cleared his throat. “Ray, you did what you did to save Nora and Nate. We understand that, don’t we Mick?” Mick poured hot water over some leaves and set the steaming mug in front of Ray who sipped at it before speaking.

“I knew Neron wasn’t planning to do anything good, but I had no idea it would be anything like this. With my name and face he was able to access a wider audience.” He paused and gestured toward the tablet. “I’ve been watching myself on YouTube. I look like such an ass, and I'm not going to be able to fix this with a few apologies. No one at the Time Bureau can look me in the eye, except Gary, who’s being extra weird, and Nora makes a face every time after she kisses me like it reminds her of of something gross.”

“It’ll blow over,” Mick said calmly. “Somebody else will do somethin’ stupid and everybody’ll forget about it. Drink your tea.”

“Thanks. Hey, this tastes different, what is it?”

“It’s weed. You need to chill.”

Ray shrugged and continued drinking. Behrad sighed.

A short while later Sara called a team meeting. “We need to keep him out of sight a while longer. Ray could be arrested for making terrorist threats. No one is buying that a demon from hell possessed him as a part of a scheme to grab souls.” 

Nate reported next. “Mona and I have found that most people believe that Ray released an airborne hallucinogen at the tech conference. It wasn't too hard to flip public concerns over metas toward fear of supernatural creatures. And then suddenly it was all over.”

“Like magic,” Mona said sadly.

“Speaking of which.” Charlie’s voice came over the com system. “John and I got all the so-called fugitives somewhere safe. We’ve heard rumblings from folk in the magical community that they consider Ray a threat that they may want eliminated. We’re trying to get the word out about Neron, but it’ll take time.”

“Ray’s aware that his reputation is in shreds,” Behrad confirmed. “He’s taking it pretty hard.”

Sara saw Mick scowling. “Something to add, Rory?”

“Shouldn’t be havin’ these meetings without him.”

Ava sighed. “I agree.” She pretended not to notice Mick feign having a heart attack. “We all want to protect him, but he deserves to know everything.” Everyone present nodded in agreement. 

Sara “Who wants to start filling him in on all the gory nipple-related details?”

Nate raised his hand. “I’ll go first. Might as well start with how I don’t blame him for Neron almost killing me.” 

Nate found Ray in the lab, listening to his phone on speaker. “Unbelievable Ray. That’s what this is. Just when I think you can’t screw up any worse I see you on national television talking crazy about magic. The next thing I know reporters are on my front lawn asking me what I think about my brother’s new creature-locating phone app. For Christ’ sake, Ray, you’ve been AWOL for the last five years while I’m bustin’ my ass trying to get investors for my start-up. Would have been nice to have some help from my tech giant CEO brother. Wait, make that ex-CEO who’s apparently not dead but he’s nowhere to be found when you need him. You’re an uncle by the way, not that you care about this family anymore. Thank God mom’s not around to see you drag the Palmer name through the mud.” The message cut off and Nate saw that Ray’s shoulders were shaking. He grabbed a box of laboratory tissue wipes and sat down next to his friend. The taller man wept silently for a minute, then blew his nose. Nate patted his back.

“What have I done, Nate?” 

“Bro, it’s not like that. It was Ne-“

“This time maybe, but what about before? Sydney’s right. I abandoned him. Thawne was right too. I ran away from my work, my life, and my responsibilities – for what? How many people have I hurt?”

“Don’t do that. Don’t second guess yourself.” Nate spoke with conviction. “You believed Rip when he said he needed you. Hell, he did need you. It doesn’t matter if he initially thought you were expendable. You go the job done, and you are definitely a legend. You’ve defeated a madman from the future, beat back aliens, saved the planet from Earth X Nazis and fought a two demons! You’ve done good, Ray.”

“I screwed up,” the scientist moaned. “I left myself open to Neron and then I had to let him take my body or he was going to kill you. Nate I couldn’t live with myself if I got you, Sara or Mick killed. I love you guys.”

“We love you too,” Sara said as she walked over and hugged Ray so vigorously that she lifted him up off his feet. “You are the heart of this team.”

From the doorway Mick put in his two cents. “Nate’s right. What you’ve done means something. Does to me anyway.” 

Ray perked up. “Thank you. I know we’re family, but so is Sydney, and I’ve been avoiding him for too long. It’s time I sit down with him and try to explain myself. He might not believe me, but at least I’ll have tried. It sounds like we’ve both changed.”

“It’s worth it, man,” Nate assured him. “Now, since Gideon is no doubt listening in maybe she’d be so kind as to close the door before Mick tries to escape I think it’s time he joined our little love-in.”

Mick snarled as the doors whooshed shut behind him. “No. No hugging! And I know about your stealth smoochin’ Haircut.” He cringed as the trio closed in on him. “Ya damn hippies!” 

Ray sighed contentedly. “Are we swaying or is that the tea kicking in? Either way I like it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Popped this out pretty quickly so I apologize for any missed spelling mistakes. Just wanted start thinking about Behrad as part of the team and how I hope he's as good a bro to Ray as Nate.


End file.
